Hero Jimenez’s message for injury victim
RAUL JIMENEZ put Wolves on the brink of the Europa League knockout stages but their victory was marred by a head injury to Kenan Bajric that saw the Slovan Bratislava defender taken to hospital.
Shortly before he headed Adama Traore’s cross beyond visiting keeper Dominik Greif, Jimenez looked distraught after his overhead kick inadvertently caught Bajric in the face, leading to a long delay and 12 minutes’ added time.
Bajric was eventually taken from the field on a stretcher, with his neck in a brace.
At the time of the incident, Greif had raced towards his team-mate and all players looked extremely concerned.
‘At the moment it looks like it’s a head injury and it’s quite serious,’ said Slovan coach Jan Kozak. ‘He is not going home with us, he is going to stay here and be observed.’ A Slovan spokesman added that Bajric was ‘ conscious, but has concussion’.
‘It is difficult for all of us,’ said Jimenez. ‘I hope he recovers well.’
Jimenez recovered his own composure to prove decisive yet again for Wolves, taking them to nine points in the group.
One point from their final two games, at Braga this month and at home to Besiktas in December, will ensure Wolves reach the last 32 of the Europa League, in their first European campaign since 1980-81.
Since the start of last season, Jimenez has scored 29 goals in all competitions for Wolves, 15 more than any other player for the club in that period. He is easily Wolves’ most important player.
His record made it all the more puzzling that he did not take the penalty early in the second half that was squandered by Ruben Neves.
The midfielder looked to have wasted Wolves’ best chance when his spot-kick was saved by Greif.
Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo confirmed Neves had been the nominated penalty taker for this match, even though Jimenez had scored from the spot in Wolves’ 2-1 win in Bratislava two weeks ago, and has scored 22 of 23 kicks since the start of the 2012-13 campaign.
‘Ruben has to practise, he struck it so badly,’ said Nuno.
‘Credit to the goalkeeper, he was in the perfect spot to stop it, but it was high and slow. Bad.’
Wolves began well, with Adama Traore looking particularly lively on the right, but they struggled to locate the decisive pass and found Greif in inspired form.
He did brilliantly to keep out Joao Moutinho’s deflected strike in the eighth minute and made an even better save to turn Jimenez’s low effort around the post for a corner.
Slovan’s only clear chance came in the sixth minute, when Bajric sliced a volley wide from six yards.
Wolves had the perfect chance to force Slovan out of their shell early in the second half, when they won the penalty for skipper Vasil Bozhikov’s clumsy foul on Pedro Neto.
Play was delayed by nearly three minutes as Neto received treatment for the stamp on his heel, and perhaps this disturbed Neves as he was denied by Greif, flinging himself to his right to keep out the strike.
After the long stoppage for Bajric’s injury, Jimenez finally made his mark by climbing brilliantly to reach Traore’s cross and beat Greif.
‘We have to improve,’ said Nuno. ‘We had chances where we could have done better. We arrived many times near the goal and the action must be finished.’
With Jimenez in their ranks, though, Wolves will always be feared.
WOLVES (3-4-3): Rui Patricio 6; Dendoncker 6.5, Coady 7, Kilman 6.5; Doherty 6.5, Moutinho 7, Neves 5.5, Vinagre 6 (Jonny 90mins); Traore 6.5 (Bennett 90), Jimenez 6.5, Pedro Neto 4.5 (Cutrone 69, 6). Subs not used: Ruddy, Vallejo, Perry, Saiss. Scorer: Jimenez 90. Booked: Jimenez.
Manager: Nuno Espirito Santo 6.5. SLOVAN BRATISLAVA (3-5-1-1): GREIF 8; Bajric 6 (Ljubicic 82), Abena 6.5, Bozhikov 7; Medvedev 6, Drazic 6, De Kamps 6.5, Ibrahim 6 (Daniel 90), De Marco 5.5; Rafael Ratao 5.5 (Sukhotskiy 70, 6); Sporar 5.5. Subs not used: Sulla, Trnovksy, Nono, Holman.
Manager: Jan Kozak 6. Referee: Bas Nijhuis (Hol) 6.
Attendance: 29,789.